BP: Relief well will get done; Macondo will be killed

BP will move forward to compete the drilling of a relief well in the Gulf of Mexico, even though pressure tests conducted Thursday showed the damaged Macondo well has been successfully sealed off from its underlying reservoir, Ret. Adm. Thad Allen said in an afternoon briefing.

How the bottom kill will be executed once the relief well is done has yet to be decided, he said.

Allen said pressure tests performed to determine the status in the well’s outermost wall found no indication that oil and gas were flowing up from the reservoir.

The test did show that about 1,000 barrels of stagnant oil are trapped in the small space between the well’s casing and the surrounding rock.

Allen said government scientists and BP engineers are currently collaborating on how next to proceed with the relief well and subsequent bottom kill to ensure that no new damage is done to the well.